


let's get friendly

by xenosaurus



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alcohol, Drawing, Established Relationship, F/M, Flirting, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, but like. not a lot of alcohol. only a little alcohol.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 20:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18724504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenosaurus/pseuds/xenosaurus
Summary: “Got a game for you, love,” Tabris says, pushing Alistair's mug out of the way so she can spread out the parchment.





	let's get friendly

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to my beta Benny, for helping me get this thing from concept to posted in less than a day <333
> 
> look. sometimes you abruptly want to write dragon age fic for no goddamn reason. fortunately, writing alistair is like riding a bike-- you never forget.

Alistair has never claimed to be an expert on romance. His best attempts seem to be serving him pretty well, given the heart-wrenchingly soft way Tabris looks at him sometimes, but he’s still shooting blind most of the time. It’s the sort of thing you apparently get through “experience” and “practice”, which seems unfair.

For example, nobody ever mentioned that it was totally possible for your lover to be your best friend. It seems like vital information, maybe something that should have been written in the Chant somewhere.

But no, that’s a revelation he gets to have in a mildewy pub, halfway through his second drink.

Tabris had gone to the bar to get another drink, waving off Alistair’s offer to do it for her. He’s pretty sure letting a lady get her own drink is another one of those romance no-nos, but Tabris doesn’t care. She comes back with a mug of ale and a scrap of parchment, grinning. Alistair always gets a little fluttery when she looks at him like that, the pull of her smile changing the shape of the scar across her left cheek.

“Got a game for you, love,” she says, pushing his mug out of the way so she can spread out the parchment. It’s stained but otherwise blank.

“Is the game ‘guess why Tabris is collecting random bits of paper’?” Alistair asks.

Tabris snorts. It’s not something he would have expected to find cute before he met her, but it is _very_ cute.

“No, that isn’t the game,” she says, and pulls something else out of her pockets. It leaves something on her fingers, which she wipes on the table. Whatever it is, it’s barely darker than the rest of the grime in this place.

“Is that charcoal?”

“Well, it sure isn’t a quill pen,” Tabris says, adjusting the parchment so she can get a better angle on it. “Come on, guess who I’m drawing.”

“You can draw?”

“Better than I can write, at least,” Tabris laughs, scribbling the basic shape of a stick figure in the corner of the paper. It almost immediately gets smudged by her hand.

“I was under the impression you never learned how to write. Leliana keeps offering to teach you,” Alistair says, leaning into Tabris’ space to watch her draw.

“Leliana keeps _threatening_ to teach me. I can’t sit still for that long and she knows it,” Tabris says, shaking her head.

“Not a very high standard you’re holding your artwork to, then.”

“That’s the point of the game!” Tabris says, laughing and elbowing Alistair. “See, come one! Guess who it is!”

She shoves the paper at him, and Alistair squints at what she’s drawn for him. He’s pretty sure it’s meant to be Zevran.

“It’s the dog,” he finally says, which gets the expected laugh and shove from her. It always feels good, making her laugh.

“No, it isn’t the dog!”

“Morrigan shapeshifted _into_ a dog!”

Tabris thrusts the charcoal at Alistair. “Draw that for me. Draw that for me right now.”

*

The game ends up lasting over an hour, and only ends because they’ve squished doodles into every corner of the parchment. Tabris has charcoal smudges on her face and sleeves, and Alistair is sure he isn’t looking much better.

“I feel like we should keep this. As a monument of some sort,” Tabris says, patting the parchment affectionately. She gets even more charcoal on her hands in the process, but at this point they’re both past caring about that.

“A monument to your artistic talent,” Alistair says, grinning. He hasn’t really had that much to drink, but he feels warm and floaty anyways.

“Excuse me? Your Oghren was perfect. I want it framed as a portrait.”

“The next time we lose him in a crowd, we can show it around until someone recognizes him.”

Tabris breaks into laughter. “Brilliant! It’s vital that we keep this safe. Oghren’s life depends on it.”

Alistair watches her as she struggles to find a way to roll up the parchment without destroying their already terrible artwork.

“You know, the other boys at the chantry played games like this sometimes. I always wanted a friend to play them with.”

Tabris pauses in her efforts and gives Alistair her full attention. He’d been aiming for idle conversation, but it seems he missed the mark.

Alistair clears his throat awkwardly. “Let’s pretend I didn’t say that. As we both know, my childhood was all sunshine and puppies, and I definitely had friends. Too many to count, in fact. Just oodles of them, all lining up to play silly games with me.”

“Well. If they ever figure out their mistake, they’ll have to wait their turn, because you’re my best friend now.”

Alistair laughs, and ducks down to kiss Tabris on the cheek; it’s a little easier when they’re sitting down. It’s amazing how much of his height is in his legs.

She leans into the contact, humming happily.

“I’m not sure ‘friends’ is the best word for it, now, is it?” he teases.

“You can be my friend and my lover at the same time. You _are_ , in fact,” Tabris says, grinning.

“And the friend stuff doesn’t kill the romance, right? Because I very much like the romance.”

Tabris laughs. “Maker, no. Believe it or not, drawing games do not cancel out the flowers _or_ any of the parts of your body I’d like to put my mouth on.”

Alistair’s whole body goes hot in a rush.

“Oh, see, look, now you’ve made me blush,” he says, trying to laugh it off. Tabris looks a little too pleased with herself for him to think he pulled it off, though.

“But, you know, if you’re worried about it… I think I could go for a little romance,” Tabris says, her tone and the way she lifts her eyebrows leaving no room to question what she means. Alistair _could_ make a joke, and he even considers a few.

“That sounds lovely,” he says instead, and enjoys the way Tabris rushes to get up from the table.

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is [xenosaurus](https://xenosaurus.tumblr.com)


End file.
